The First Time
by Azaisya
Summary: "Lin was eleven the first time it happened. The first time her mother didn't come home." Yakone injures Toph, Sokka, and Aang, so of course they go to Air Temple Island to be healed. But nobody thinks to pick up Lin, who's home alone, until after midnight. Oneshot.


**I know I haven't updated any of my multi-fic chapters, and I am very sorry for that. I know that this doesn't count as an apology, because it's not for Skyrim. But it's something. **

**And I pushed the date of Yakone's trial three years, because I don't think anybody (even Lin) should stay home alone at eight. **

* * *

The first time she was home alone, nothing terrible happened. Sure, she had _accidentally_ burned her dinner, rendering it inedible, but her mother had come home before long, sporting several new bruises. But she had just laughed and cooked something else, always ready to do anything for her daughter.

Lin Bei Fong had been allowed to stay home since she was ten. Whenever anyone doubted Toph's decision to allow that, the blind earthbender had simply pointed out, "I helped the Avatar defeat the Fire Nation's army at _twelve_."

Even at ten, Lin had been an extraordinarily talented bender, just beginning to learn to bend metal. She was more than able to protect herself should anything happen. However, Toph has stationed more skilled policemen around the area whenever she was forced to stay late for work and none of her friends could watch the girl. What terrified her more than anything else was the thought of the friends of those she arrested coming after her daughter.

Lin was eleven the first time _it_ happened. The first time her mother didn't come home. She'd just finished eating dinner (having learned how to successfully prepare a meal by then) and had gone about the house to do the last chore of the day: dusting. Normally Toph got home when she was halfway done, always smiling as her daughter raced forwards and hugged her, despite the fact that she was tired and worn out from the day.

Lin only started to worry after she had finished dusting and didn't have anything else to do to occupy her thoughts. She tiptoed over to the window in her mother's room (the last room she dusted) and peeked outside. The streets were slowly emptying as the sun set, but there was no sign of her mother. Her forehead creased as she frowned.

"I'm sure she's alright," Lin said aloud, as if that would make it true. The girl knew that her mother lived a dangerous life, and that people threatened her almost daily. But she _had_ to be alright. She _had_ to.

Lin tugged the blinds shut and turned to stare at the cold, empty house. With a sigh, she padded down the hall to her own room, longingly fingering the low bookshelf before leaping over it and into her bed.

Normally her mother would be here, to tug a random book free and tuck Lin in. Then the book would be handed to the girl as her mother sat down on the edge of the bed. Lin would read the book aloud, despite having read it millions of times before. It was just what they _did_, every single night.

Pulling the blankets up to her chin, Lin tried to sleep, squeezing her eyes shut. If she slept, then morning would come faster. And when morning came, her mother surely would, too.

But she _couldn't_ sleep.

A hurricane of what if's swirled in her mind like a hurricane, unforgiving and unyielding. _What if she's hurt? What if she was kidnapped? What if she's dead? What if she abandoned me? What if she's stuck somewhere?_

"Quit it, Lin," the girl snapped to herself. But they kept coming. _What if she needs rescuing? What if nobody knows? What if firebenders shot lightning at her? What if nobody heals her? What if somebody kidnapped her? What if she's stuck somewhere?_

Realizing the futility of trying to sleep, she hopped out of bed, struggling to blink back tears. To the stone figurines of a badger mole and a man with a melon-head on her desk (who she figured might as well be standing in for her mother), she said, "And _technically_ I'm not supposed to go to bed until I'm tucked in, and I haven't been tucked in yet."

She padded back out of the hallway. Of course, the house was made entirely of stone. When problems with the constructors had popped up, Toph had simply earthbent a house up and walked in. Toph's room was (ironically) the only bedroom with a window.

Lin crept into her mother's room and climbed into her bed, letting the familiar earthy smell wash over her. "Come home soon, Momma," she whispered, stroking the pillows. Unlike before, she didn't settle herself down or snuggle into the pillows. She just sat there, frowning, hugging one her mother's pillows to keep the scent with her. She sat there for several minutes, trying to think of anything but her mother. Rainbows, unicorns, yellow, platypus-bears, _anything._

"Maybe I'll fall asleep and she'll be there when I wake up," Lin said, but only half-heartedly. When she had first stayed home alone, she had been plenty scared (although she hadn't had as many what if's then as she had now), but it hadn't been as bad as she had thought. But never before had she ever wished someone else was home with her. Now, though, she wished somebody was here. _Anybody_.

She found herself standing, and moving to the window, dragging the white pillow with her. Still no sign of Toph, although the streets were dark and empty.

Lin stood there for a long time, just searching, hoping her mother would magically appear, or something. Somehow — she honestly didn't know how — several chairs, the blanket, and all the pillows ended up by the window with her. Building a sort-of fort around herself, Lin curled up, green eyes fixed on the dark street below, every once in a while fidgeting on the two chairs underneath her to get more comfortable.

Lin didn't remember falling asleep, but when she woke it was almost midnight. Hoping, desperately, that there would now be an answer, she called, her voice high and shrill, "Momma?" There was no answer. Untangling herself from the sheets, the girl ran out of her mother's room. "Momma!" Still no answer.

_Don't cry, Lin. Bei Fongs don't cry._

Toph's voice, in her head, made the girl do the exact opposite. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks. "I've got to find her," she decided, angrily wiping away the tears. Running into the kitchen, she grabbed a small knife. If the knife didn't help, then she could use earthbending.

Lin opened the door and crept outside, looking around cautiously. Every little sound made her jump, convinced somebody was going to attack her. Where was she supposed to go? Suddenly, this didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. The girl had half-turned back to the house, still in her nightclothes, but she shook her head and continued walking down the street. "My momma could _need_ me," she whispered, "So I can't go back now."

She'd barely turned the first corner before stopping, eyes wide. But this time, she turned her face up to the sky, brightening, a smile widening on her face.

Because Lin had heard a certain flying bison's familiar roar. "Appa!" She ran back to her street. A man was standing by her front door, knocking on it.

"Uncle Sokka!" The girl launched herself at him, dropping the kitchen knife mid-leap.

The Water Tribe warrior laughed and caught her. "What are you doing outside, kid?"

Pure relief coursed through her, and she buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed. Somewhat awkwardly, he patted her on the head. Appa leaned over and licked them both. She grimaced but gave a half-hearted giggle. "It was scary," she whispered, glad her mother wasn't there to see her sobbing, "And nobody was home." Suddenly, a thought occurred to her and she pulled away, wiping her eyes with her knuckles. "Uncle Sokka, why are you here? Where's Momma? Why is Appa here?" _Please don't say something bad happened . . . please don't._

"Get on Appa, Lin. I'll explain on the way." The girl nodded and obeyed, scrambling up. Sokka followed, with a, "Yip-yip, Appa."

"Why do you have Uncle Aang's bison? Are you allowed to fly Appa if he doesn't belong to you? Are we going to Air Temple Island? Is my mother there? Why didn't she come home? Did something bad happen? Did the bad guy do it? Did my mother kick his butt? But then why didn't she come home? Is she hurt? Did you get hurt? Did Uncle Aang? Is that why you get to fly Appa?" She had barely finished talking before Appa was in the air.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Sokka chuckled. "Do you know what your mother was doing today, Lin?"

Now that she was safe, and that Sokka was here, Lin nodded, relaxing. "Yes. She was going to kick the bad man's ass."

* * *

"Yakone." Sokka raised his eyebrows. Of course, he wouldn't expect Toph's daughter to be a soft, well-spoken girl, but he'd hadn't _seen_ her recently. And when you spend time with Tenzin, or Zuko's children, you kind of _forget_ that there are kids who talk like Lin.

Lin nodded, climbing over the saddle's edge to sit next to him. Normally, he would tell her to get back, but her fingers were wrapped firmly in Appa's fur, and he understood that she was scared. "So why didn't she come home?"

Sokka had thought through what he would say to the girl when he had to tell her, but now he just blinked at her. What do you say to a young girl when her mother has just been attacked? Well, not _just been_, but close enough. "Well . . . the trial didn't go exactly as expected."

Lin's grip on his arm tightened. "Uncle Sokka. . . ."

"Yak—" Hastily, he corrected himself. "The bad man was . . . um . . . more powerful than we thought, so he caused us some trouble." He winced, falling into silence for a bit, remembering the terrible feeling of being bloodbent. He _hated_ the feeling, and _hated_ that he knew he hated the feeling. It just hurt, and it felt _wrong_ to have his body used against him.

The memory of feeling his heart plummet and his breath freeze up at seeing the black haired woman on the floor, her armor reflecting the light, remembering his helplessness as Yakone forced her to free him rendered the man silent for several moments.

"My mom," Lin snapped, voice suddenly fierce. Her resemblance to Toph was scary in the pale light of the moon. "What happened to her?"

"She's alive," Sokka hastily assured, remembering his relief when he had released the Chief of Police was breathing, even if she wasn't conscious. "She's just . . . hurt."

He realized how lame that sounded when Lin propped a hand on her hip. "What about you? And Uncle Aang?"

"I wasn't hurt that bad," Sokka said tiredly. He'd only been frozen in place, not lifted up off the ground.

"Uncle A—"

"Uh . . . he's around the same place as your mother." A white lie. Aang was definitely more gravely injured than Toph, but he'd somehow managed to stay conscious. Might have something to do with him being the Avatar.

* * *

Lin drew her arm away from Sokka, feeling hurt somehow. "We're going to Air Temple Island." It wasn't a question; they weren't far from the island now.

_Please, momma. Be alright._

Sokka wasn't joking now. She almost wished he would; it might be enough to help her convince herself that Toph and Aang would be alright. "Uncle Sokka?" Her voice was uncharacteristically soft.

"Yeah, kid?"

"Do you—" She sighed, almost dreading the answer. "Do you think my mom will be alright?"

Sokka was silent. But as Appa landed, and Lin prepared to jump off, desperate to use her seismic sense to find her mother, the Water Tribe warrior said, softly, "Well, she has the best healer in the world with her, doesn't she?"

Lin immediately brightened. She'd forgotten about Aunt Katara. "Thank you," she said. Then she hugged him. The girl could feel him stiffen, and she immediately let him go.

"Careful," he managed, smiling shakily, "Bad man hurt me, today, remember?"

Lin nodded sheepishly. Shouldn't he know she's old enough to understand that the "bad man" was a bloodbender? She had heard her mother talking about it with Uncle Aang, although she had quieted when she felt Lin listening. She knew that the "bad man" (was his name Yakone?) had killed people. She wasn't a little girl anymore. "Sorry." Then she jumped off of Appa, the earth reaching up to soften her landing.

"Your mom is in—"

Delighted and relieved, now that she knew where her mother was, she answered, "I know!"

* * *

Katara's hands wove back and forth, her glowing water following her fingers. Toph was conscious now, and her glazed eyes eyes were fixed somewhere to the left of the waterbender.

The earthbender kept trying to insist that she was alright, but the way her face contorted before she forced it into a mask of calm whenever Katara's water touched a certain spot betrayed her.

"I'm fine," she said again, but her voice was fuzzy. "So quit acting liking I'm dying."

"Toph," Katara replied patiently, sighing, "you could barely metalbend your armor off." She had had to gather the assorted pieces from around the room after the Chief of Police's multiple attempts.

"That was earlier," she insisted.

Katara promptly moved water over to a certain spot. Toph bit back a scream, but snapped after the urge left her, "What was that for?"

"That was for being difficult."

Toph sighed shifted slightly in an effort to get comfortable, one hand falling off the bed. However, her fingers were still a good five inches from the floor. "I hate this bed," she mumbled, "I can barely see anything."

Katara shrugged, her water glowing slightly brighter. Aang had very much scared her when he had practically fallen off of Appa, airbending his two friends out of the flying bison's saddle.

"Have you taken care of Aang yet?" Toph's voice trailed off at the end, her eyelids sliding shut. She stiffened and retched when Katara touched another sensitive spot and opened them again, face turned up to the ceiling in an effort to hide the tears of pain that escaped her faded green eyes.

Katara nodded. "Aang's alright," she said softly, roughly shaking the earthbender (despite her yelps of protest) when her eyes shut again, terrified of what would happen if she fell asleep, "He just needs rest, and maybe another healing session later. Sokka was just in shock."

"Saved me for las— Hey! That hurt."

"So I'm healing it," Katara replied, "And sometimes healing hurts."

"I know," Toph retorted bitterly.

Footsteps behind her made Katara look around. A young girl streaked into the room, black hair tangled, still in her nightclothes. Toph didn't even react, most likely because she hadn't heard her.

"L—" Katara started, but the girl had already leapt into the bed, throwing her arms around her mother, sobbing.

Toph bit back another yelp, managing a shaky, "Lin?"

"Momma, you're okay!"

"Yeah, kiddo. I'm okay." The earthbender gently pushed her daughter off of her, struggling not the betray her pain. "I'm _okay_."

Katara asked, "Lin, when did you get here?"

"Just now." The girl's green eyes were fixed on her mother's face, despite the fact that Toph was "looking" slightly above her daughter.

Toph face snapped to Katara's general direction, and she sat up, wincing as she did. "You left her alone?" she demanded of the waterbender. "It's been hours!"

"I was okay," Lin protested, recognizing that her mother should be resting.

But Toph simply brushed her fingers through her daughter's hair, snapping at Katara, "She could've been scared! Why didn't anybody remember her?" Her fingers brushed her daughter's cheek (Lin instinctively shut her eyes. It wouldn't have been the first time she got poked in the wrong spot, especially seeing as Toph couldn't see well on the bed) and she continued, this time to the girl, "Did they only just pick you up?" Feeling her nod, she attempted to glare at Katara. The effect was lost when she missed the bender by a foot.

Katara rubbed her eyes tiredly. She'd been up all day, and now nearly all night. "Toph, we were _distracted_. You were hurt, Aang was hurt, Sokka was hurt, and there was the matter of Yakone to deal with. And he—"

"I'm _okay_," Lin insisted, "And Aunt Katara's trying to make you okay, too!" She gently shoved her mother back onto the bed. "So let her!" Toph only chuckled and ruffled the girl's hair. Katara shook her head, thinking, _If anybody else said or did that to Toph, they would be launched halfway to the moon._

"Thank you, Lin," Katara muttered and returned to healing the stubborn earthbender. Before long, exhaustion finally caught up to Toph and she fell asleep. After asking Katara if it was alright, Lin rested her head on her mother's shoulder and fell asleep as well.

Katara smiled softly at the almost identical look on their similar faces, serene and calm, for once. She was tired, too, but her friends' safeties came before sleep.

Just as she was about to leave the room, now that the earthbender's condition was stable, Toph's voice — soft, but sharp — drifted over to her. "I assure you, I am _never_ going to forget that you forgot my daughter and left her alone for hours."

"I wouldn't expect anything else," Katara said with a sigh, shaking her head, not wanting to argue with her friend when she was in this state. "I wouldn't expect anything else."

* * *

**I'm not sure where people normally put the stories that take place between ATLA and LOK. I'm just putting it here, because Korra's flashback of Yakone's trial occurs here.**

**And, since I've seen it both ways, is it spelled Bei Fong or Beifong?**

**Review! Tell me what you liked/hated.**

**Edit: And I realized I forgot to add a disclaimer. I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender of Legend of Korra. **


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